Problem:

The HVAC – although turned on – was not producing cool air

Customer’s energy bills were increasing quickly

Unpleasant odor was blowing into the house through the ducts

Diagnosis:

When our technician tried to enter the back yard – a large dog began to bark. Little did our technician know that he had already located the source of the problem. The large dog and the HVAC unit were sharing the small back yard. The dog played every day, as dogs do – while the HVAC unit sucked air every day, as HVAC units do. Each time the dog lost a hair – the HVAC unit picked it up by its’ sucking action. Eventually the HVAC unit became covered with all the hair the dog had shed. No air could penetrate through the thick coat of dog hair covering the HVAC unit.

Without air supply to cool the system, the HVAC system began to work too hard, sending into the house odors of burning dog hair mixed with burning engine oil.

The harder the system was working – the more energy it was requiring.

The technician was surprised that the system’s engine did not burn.

Solution:

Our technician peeled the dog hair coat off the HVAC unit and cleaned the unit. He vacuumed the dog hair out of the whole system
The customer moved the dog to another part of the yard.

This pile of dryer lint was removed from the dryer duct and the air duct system.

Problem:

The dryer was not drying.

There was lint everywhere in the house.

There was moisture in the laundry room.

Diagnosis:

The aluminum flex hose behind the dryer was torn and had a big gap in it. (Our technician says a torn dryer hose is a common problem he sees in many homes). Lint escaped through the gap into the laundry room. This explained why there was lint all over the laundry room.

But why lint all over the home?

Our technician noticed that the cold air return for the HVAC system was located just a few feet away from the dryer vent and was sucking the lint into the ventilation system. The lint flowed through the furnace into the air ducts and came out the heating/cooling vents everywhere in the home.
The debris accumulation in the system clogged the filter, caused the furnace to work harder, left a layer on the blower, and allowed moisture from the laundry room into the ductwork – which created favorable conditions for mildew in the HVAC system.

Solution:

Our technician removed the torn aluminum flex hose from behind the dryer vent. He clean the dryer duct all the way to the dryer vent on the external wall of the home. He replaced the torn dryer hose with a new one – and made sure it was positioned correctly behind the dryer so the problem will not reoccur.

Due to the excessive moisture – the lint was firmly stuck to the walls of the air ducts. The technician roto-brushed all the lint out of the air ducts, vacuumed and sanitized the air ducts to prevent a mildew problem. He performed a thorough furnace cleaning, including the removal of lint deposits from the blower. The filter was replaced with an Electrostatic filter (washable and re-usable).

This home is now dry, the lint from the dryer exits the house properly, and clean, healthy air is flowing out of the ventilation system.
The family is dusting a lot less, sneezing a lot less, vacuuming the carpets and draperies a lot less, and their young boy no longer has a chronic eye irritation.